Last week I went to purchase and collect two 90cc adly quads for my brother in law's son's that were advertised by Lew on the forum on behalf of his friend.We noticed that the bikes needed a good service as they had been standing for long and had rarely been used Lew then phoned some bike shops that he had known in order to have them serviced asap as there was transport organised for them to leave for KZN.

Unfortunately the reputable forum vendors that he knew were fully booked and could only help out the following week however Lew contacted Biking Accessories in Pretoria and Spoke to Jason the mechanic whom agreed that they could help out.

The following day I delivered the bikes to Biking Accessories and and told Jason that the one quad does not pull that well as the other one does seeing that they are both identical and ask for his opinion after letting him ride both these quads whereby he immediately replied that the exhaust was clogged up.

I told him to service both bikes and if the exhaust was clogged as he said then to unclog it.

I also told him that the carb was cleaned by myself and a fellow forum member the evening before and that he did not have to remove it but that he should adjust them if necessary. I categorically asked him to do a full inspection and service to the bike as there were no bike shops close to St Lucia where these bikes were destined.

I contacted Jason on Friday to hear if the bikes were ready for collection whereby I was told that I could collect them.

I arrived at Biking Accessories and greeted the owner Brett and told him that I was there to collect my two quads.

When I went back to my vehicle one quad was being loaded on the trailer and I immediately asked the worker to remove it and start the bikes.

I noticed that the one quad had much much more power than the other and then asked this guy to call Jason. Jason arrived and I asked him why the quad was still as it was when I delivered it there.

He told me that he had removed the exhaust and unclogged it as well as had serviced the bikes and then he asked his labourer to fetch him a screwdriver to adjust the airscrew on the carburettor which immediately made a difference to the bike.

Having done this he told me that the bike was now fine and that he also had fitted a new battery to the one bike.

I asked him if he personally serviced the bike and if the air cleaners were cleaned too whereby he said he personally did the job and that the bikes were good to go to KZN.

I was sent back into the shop to see Wayne to pay an amount of R1110.00 which included two spare spark plugs @ R60.00 and a battery @R240.00.

I thanked Brett and left for home.

On my arrival at home I opened the aircleaner cover to see what kind of air filter oil had been used and to my horror noticed that the air cleaner had been untouched and dirty as they were when delivered, I checked the other bike and well exactly the same dirty air filter.

I was livid to say the least and contacted Brett immediately.I told him that the air cleaners were still as they were and that the bike that I pointed out as the weaker of the two was exactly still as it was when I dropped them off and had to show Jason again when they were now allegedly serviced.

Brett then gave this moerse apology of note and ranted on how he was trying to build his business and that these people were destroying it faster than he could build it blah blah blah.He told me that he would personally come and fetch the bikes and wanted to see with his own eyes that this work was not done.

Minutes later I receive a call from Wayne,a saleman as far as I know whom now tells me that the air cleaners would be dirty as only the carbs were cleaned and that I should show him on the job sheet where it states clean the airfilters.

Well I f@#ing flipped and asked him where does he fit into the picture as I only ever spoke to him when I paid for the service of the bikes and how the hell should I know what was written on his jobsheet as the only person that I dealt with was Jason whom was the person Lew organised to have the bikes serviced with.I certainly was not in charge of their admin work was I???

I then asked Wayne what is exactly stated on the job sheet whereby this man turns around and tells me there is no job sheet!!!!!! Well this is where I insisted to speak to Jason and called him to the phone with Brett standing next to him listening to me asking him why the bike's airfilter was not cleaned and if the bike was at all even serviced or attended to as he alleges.

After having spoken to both Jason and Wayne I asked Brett not to take my word for it and come and see for himself what the situation actually is.

At 6:20pm Brett and Jason the mechanic arrives and needless to say I expressed my dissatisfaction and showed them exactly what I was talking about.Brett witnesses the dirty filters and I show him the untouched exhaust bolts that were allegedly removed to unclog the exhaust whereby he now starts to defend the situation and says that the non cleaning of the air filters were supposed to have been done by the black assistant and that he can guarantee me that the exhaust was removed and cleaned as he personally saw some smoke in the workshop of some exhaust being cleaned blah blah blah.

I told him there and then that I do not believe anything was really done and that I don't accept it.

The mechanic asks for a screw driver and decides to take the bike for a ride up the street and adjust the carb some more.He asks me for petrol to clean the airfilters of which my reply is that I will do it myself tommorrow as it is already dark outside.

At this point Brett apologises again and asks me what do I want from him to resolve this and my reply to him was that he should go and think about it and let me know how he intends resolving this by Saturday 09April 2011.

Monday comes and still no call or mail from Brett and I decide to send him a mail outlying my expectation of a refund on the labour and sundries excluding the battery and spare spark plugs purchased.

Again no response so today, Thursday 14 April 2011 I call Brett and ask him if he received my mail whereby his response is that he did and did not even respond to such a ridiculous request whereby I told him that if he did not agree to my request he could have the courtesy of calling me or replying to my mail.

This is where the man becomes hot under the collar and starts with me by saying things like Mr X who's name we wont mention here told me that you are unreasonable and a very difficult person to please and that my salesman has also had a run in previously with you and that you are always unhappy as can be confirmed by another person whom own a bike shop whom I will not mention here .

I told Brett that I expect to get what I paid for and will now have to take the bikes to a reputable and trustworthy shop where I will get what I pay for .

I also told him that I will be discussing this on the forum as I have exhausted my options and have no other recourse, not surprisingly I was told by Brett that I should do so ,well here it is.

I am not seeking pity in any way as I have learnt a valuable lesson but the most important reason for posting this is to caution my friends from having to deal with such dreadfull situations.

I have now arranged with a trustworthy and reputable forum vendor to have the bikes serviced and know it will be done next time.

Have I taken this up with Biking Accessories personally?Yes!Did I afford them the opportunity to make good and fix their mistakes?YesWill I make use of their services ever again or recommend them to someone ever again?No

Tyre Kicker, I have dealt with them before previously as well. NEVER EVER EVER again. First off, you stand there like a poephol for 30 minutes before getting any attention, then when you get attention, they have no clue what they are talking about, eventually when you explain what you want and need, they eventually do the job half and then want twice the money of another bike shop for the job they did.

At this point Brett apologises again and asks me what do I want from him to resolve this and my reply to him was that he should go and think about it and let me know how he intends resolving this by Saturday 09April 2011.

This was your mistake.They should have fixed the quads then and there or you should have insisted on getting your money back..

I had a bad experience with I'm sure the same shop and guy a while ago!

A month or two ago I was idly flipping though one of the bike magazines one Saturday morning when I noticed an ad of theirs in which they had Acerbis body armour on special.

So I called them and and got through to Jason and asked if they still had stock in my size (the magazine was for the previous month), specifically referring to the ad and confirming the price. All was confirmed, so I got in the car and drove all the way out to Pretoria.

When I arrived there were a few black guys behind the counter and Jason was at the till dealing with a clearly irate customer who had apparently ordered some KTM parts which had been incorrectly specified so he couldnt use what was delivered or something. This got quite heated as part after part was found to be the wrong thing and other parts that had been ordered had not been delivered or something like that.

Having spoken to Jason on the phone I thought it was best that I continued with him, so I waited after indicating that I had spoken to him on the phone about the armour.

I waited a long time as he dithered around trying to sort out what clearly was a mess.

After about 20 minutes with no end in sight I finally got one of the black guys to at least show me an Acerbis body armour suit in my size. It turned out the suite shown didnt have sleeves. So I waited some more. Finally the guy Jason was trying to help stormed off in a huff.

I asked Jason for a suite with arms as advertised and as discussed that morning on the phone (I had a copy of the mag with me) and got the reply "oh no we dont have stock, those ones in the ad sold out long ago"

I explained slowly in words of one syllable that I had spoken to him personally to verify exactly that on the phone before driving through from Joburg that very morning. All the black guys behind the counter were nodding along with me as they obviously saw this sort of thing a lot. He said "he thought I meant the sleeveless type", which was not shown in the ad at all ..... I mean what sort of asshole??

I told him what I thought of him, having driven all the way from Joburg and having waited for almost an hour and then I also stormed out in huff myself, just like the previous customer.